LU criticised over refund delay

Tube chiefs are criticised today over an 18-month delay in dealing with commuter fare refunds following the Central line crash at Chancery Lane two years ago.

Many passengers complained they were not dealt with properly or fairly in the wake of the derailment. Others reported their claims were "lost in the system".

A special investigation by the London Transport Users' Committee (LTUC) concludes that many commuters were victim of a "postcode lottery".

London Underground judged whether to pay claims on the basis of where the ticket-holder lived and what other Tube or mainline rail services were available with the Central line out of action.

LU staff did not know how the ticket compensation scheme worked because they had not been told by their heads of departments.

The final compensation bill for LU totalled more than ?10million, though that was far below first estimates because so many people did not bother to claim.

Seven passengers were injured and the line closed for 11 weeks when a train came off the tracks at Chancery Lane after a huge under-carriage gear box tore free. The line closure had a devastating effect on London's businesses and restaurants.

LTUC received a record 700 appeals from passengers who complained they had not been dealt with properly.

Brian Cooke, LTUC chairman, said: "The effect of the Central line closure on the Tube's passengers was substantial but little attention was given to the impact of this on the everyday lives of passengers."

He added: "Any future refund scheme must be much easier for staff to administer and far more user-friendly for passengers."

An LU spokesman apologised and said: "We have learned from the Central line experience and have implemented improvements to our refund procedure."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT